Squeezing in more pictures before the month is over

Last day of September! Three quarter of the year is gone after today! And my little baby is no longer little! Looks like a big baby here :)



He demo-ed the use of this playpen to me - he crawled in through the hole, stood up, posed, and crawled out again. I was told he could unzip the hole himself to get in.



This is random - we saw this huge rabbit at the house near the IFC - it's probably bigger than ZK!



Our gadget boy at his gadget again.. With his bolster which he seems to like bringing everywhere these days. But I now grab him away from the humidifier - he dragged the whole thing now last Friday! Luckily, the water didn't wet him or reach his bed. But I had a hard time cleaning up the mess while trying to keep him away from the water.



Counting ducks :) This was, I believe, the second last time we went to the baby spa. So we bought him a little wearable float - don't know what it's called! Pictures later - and some swim diapers so that we could bring him to public pool after his baby spa expired on 27 Sep 2013.



Took a bus home!



Poor boy was sleepy..



That was the Saturday when we went to the Mid Autumn Festival thing at the atrium across the road, which was also when we got him this little chair from Daiso! We meant it for him to sit down to wear and take off his shoes.

He had difficulty sitting on the chair but now, he's doing quite well, although sometimes he ends up on the floor!



The next day, he took it with him everywhere!



Sitting at his activity table - I like :)



Tried to go to the baby spa again on Sunday but it was too crowded so we let him sit on kiddy rides for free :p



Papa couldn't fit into the ride ^.^



Also let him walk about..



He had a good dinner, followed by some cantaloupe! Mama had a lot of those when you were inside my belly :)



Why? Why so cute?!



Fast forward to the next weekend...

We took a bus to Plaza Sing and just as the bus pulled into our destination bus stop, he saw the jelly babies from the bus and pointed excitedly! We let him touch...

We didn't realise it then but that was our last trip to the baby spa... Is that why you're sad, baby?



Sunday breakfast was at Wendy's. I thought he looked like me in this photo! Check out the eyes.. But then, this isn't his cutest look.. Look like me = not cute?! :(



He carried this little basket on his arm, like how I carried my bag *.*



Oh, I MUST talk about the yellow car in the corner of the picture! Nvm that it belts out a noisy Gangnam Style, it also has a figurine of Psy emerging from the red cover of the convertible every few seconds! I find it quite disturbing *.* But he seems to like it, especially pushing down the red cover or pulling at the head! Ok, the second part is quite disturbing too :p

Papa went jogging so Mama brought ZK to the playground - this was the first time he was able to run freely at a playground!



Last Tuesday, something funny happened. I was wheeling his stroller to IFC in the morning and he was babbling. Suddenly, I heard something different - he was using his falsetto! Didn't know what he was talking about but it sounded so funny :)

Saw his art work air-drying at the window last Thursday :) Little handprints!



Papa couldn't come home last weekend so we hanged out with Ah-Ma last Saturday. No more baby spa but we went to Vivocity anyway last Saturday, to grab some stuff at Daiso and to walk walk. He was staring intently at something in Daiso...



That's my sleeping baby - his ear is quite prominent here!



After three or four nights of sleeping straight through to 6 am and beyond, he woke at 4 am on Saturday. I was hoping he would fall back into his bed after sitting up, but no, I saw him get off his bed soon after so I had to intervene.. He didn't sleep again until past 5 am, yawns...

Poor ZK developed a fever yesterday :( But his appetite was still good - he devoured two wassants for dinner.



Anyway, I'm on leave today and tomorrow. We're officially employers from today! Our FDW will arrive soon.. Well, we're keeping our fingers crossed! Hope she is good...

It's been a while...

... since I wrote after drinking!

It's too hot ~.~ So I grabbed a beer from the fridge :) So now I'm totally :) :) :) :) :)

!!!

Anyway, actually I was going to say it's been a while since my last post. Well, it's because I'm really busy..

Last Thursday, I reviewed some biodata of potential full-time help and chose one candidate to interview. But I wanted to change her salary terms as I don't need her to work three Sundays a month.

No word from agent until I SMS-ed again on Sunday afternoon. And guess what, he brought her over for an interview that very night! She was already in Singapore on a social visit pass.

She seemed ok - for us and with us. So it was set. But I almost fainted when agent said she could come in on a work permit on Friday - we had no bed etc prepared for her!

So we agreed for Monday instead. So I've been doing crazy things like getting furniture within an hour after getting home early from work retreat on Tuesday, staying up to do up a task list, running to Sim Lim to get wifi cameras. I just set up two cameras tonight; the first one was set up two days ago as I bought that from qoo10. Very happy, now I can see ZK without going in :)

Anyway, we're almost done. One last weekend before we bid our current life goodbye! I'm sure life will be different with someone else living with us - easier with housework taken off me totally but sobs to my much treasured privacy!

My funny baby

On Wednesday, he was bringing his book with him as he left his bed, probably heading to his baby monitor. In an attempt to distract him from doing so, I snatched the book from his hands and placed it just out of his reach.

He reached out and grabbed the book, and tried to back down the bed again. But I snatched it again too. After a couple of repeats, he started to laugh and was quite happy for me to snatch his book.

More snatching and laughing later, I decided to not snatch his book. And this silly boy brought the book towards me for me to snatch! More laughing ensured! :)

Now that he isn't drinking milk at bedtime, I'm resuming his bedtime reading. But unlike last time, he didn't seem interested to read the book although he was still trying to flip it open. Oh well, we'll get him reading sooner or later..

And yesterday, he kept standing up and walking on his bed. I had to catch him a few times as he almost stepped off the bed - that's a six-inch step! But once, I missed and he stepped off and fell! I went "uh-oh!"

But luckily, it was at the side with the blanket atop his play mat so it was quite soft. And he landed on his knees before his face hit the blanket. Then, he stayed in his frog position, not moving.

Shit, did he hurt himself bad??!

And then, he went "uh-oh" while still remaining in that position. I laughed a silent one!!!

It took him at least one more second before he lifted his head and started doing his pre-bed thing all over again.

Roll, roll, roll and sleep

Since last Monday or so, I've been consistently letting ZK go to sleep on his own. Not that I can put him in his bed and go though! I'll put him down, sing to him, talk to him, and sit on the floor next to his bed and wait for him to doze off. He would roll across the entire bed and down to the floor many many times before he eventually stays still and breathes his steady sleeping breath.

Yesterday, he didn't roll much; ZK was out by 8 pm. And I was out by 10.30 pm, woohoo! But I woke at midnight to keep the laundry. And when I went in to check on him, I found him halfway between his bed and the cabinets! I must have been so knocked out that I didn't hear anything cos even if he didn't whine, there would be shuffling noise.

He woke briefly at 4 am and eventually woke at 7.10 am today - only because I pulled up the blinds. The first few seconds of waking, he wasn't too happy :( Sorry but Mama has got to go to work!

He went down much later today, past 8.30 pm. Hope he can sleep well tonight as well and wake past 7 am tomorrow. Then I can prepare for work first and leave the house with him.

I feel so bad sometimes, when I want him to sleep more so that I could do things other than looking after him. There are chores to do :(

But after last Saturday, I've decided to be more careful. I gave specific instructions to IFC to not put him in bed after his morning nap so that he could nap at home. He did after struggling in my arms - it is too bright so he must be carried or he won't go down. Sito and I napped too. But I woke earlier to pack in some housework, peeking in through the ajar door once every so often.

Then when I was doing something in the kitchen, the door opened. I thought Sito was up but no! A little boy walked out silently to look for his mama!! It was scary cos he was sleeping on our bed! So grateful he didn't drop off the bed in his just-woke-up state! So grateful he knows how to get off the bed legs first! I still remember my KPI target ok:

No. of falls from adult bed = 0

A word on immigrants in Singapore

Read an article in Zaobao today. Actually it was a letter from a reader 伍治坚 on 我们需要什么样的社会 - see the scan here cos I can't find the URL on the website.

From what he wrote, he seemed to be a new Singaporean from China. He had lived in Singapore for more than 10 years and also lived in the UK and the US before. Recently, a local Singaporean couple told him to go back to China and claimed that they were "real" Singaporeans. His five-year-old son who was present then and who was born here was baffled as to why they were told to "go back to China".

Through highlighting this incident, he questioned the kind of society we need and what we should do before this societal sickness - 社会病 - gets worse. He expressed a hope that his son would not need to be troubled by this problem when he grows up.

I'm so sad for his son. I share the writer's hope that the next generation - be it immigrant or local-born - will not need to make such differentiation of who's "real" and who's not.

中秋节小快乐!

Mid Autumn Festival is this Thursday. We had intended to go out last Saturday evening to 提灯笼 but ZK was visibly tired on our way home from town so we decided to shelf the plan.

But as we walked towards our place, what did we see across the road but a progression of people holding lanterns! They were led by a mini lion dance - more like lion walk *.* but that caught our attention.

What were the chances? So we decided to join in! After all, it would be the first time ZK could hold a lantern although this would be his second Mid Autumn Festival.

As we were waiting for the lift to go up for ZK's lantern, Sito mentioned, a bit regretfully, that he would have got a bubble tea had he known we were going to go there. And of course I had harboured that same thought! Greedy plan - he went to get the bubble tea while I went for the lantern :p

We lighted ZK's lantern at the traffic light - burnt off a bit of the "fins" of the traditional cellophane lantern in the shape of a dragonfor our 小龙！When we got to the atrium across the road, we saw so many people! They had goodie bags and were queueing for yummies, and there was a stage with emcees in opera costumes! Yup, it was a CC event - our first since we moved there! Although we didn't really participate from the beginning, heh..

Moving ZK plus shaky Mama = blur ZK with clear Papa *.*



Steady Papa plus bright spotlight = clear ZK with pretty Mama ^.^



ZK was looking blur throughout the 10-15 min we were there. Why so many lights? So many kids? What's this that Mama wants me to hold? We have kept the lantern in storage - can reuse :)



The flame got blown out just before this was taken, oh well! The family photo is a reminder for me to prettify myself all the time - I looked like a wreck that day sighs..

We didn't stay long. Watched a bit of the kids' contest for one with the longest breath holding out "mid autummmmmmmm"! Then we left. Someone gave us pomelo on the way out - haven't had it for this festival for years! :)

Baby babble

The other day, ZK turned to me with a serious look and launched into some serious baby speech.

"Mama, I really like the toy box you prepared for me but I think you need to fill it to the brim, and please note that I much prefer the noisy wooden blocks to the solid ones and that tomorrow is a good deadline for this request to be met."

Of course I imagined the content of his speech. But that look and that tone were unmistakably those of someone in charge ~.~

As we held hands in the middle of the living room, I really wanted to laugh cos I had no idea what he just said. And that serious face! But, you don't laugh at your child when he's being so serious right? So I mirrored his serious face and replied, "Oh really? Wow, that's amazing!" Or something like that. And he went on his way.

Just now, he threw his pacifier aside and babbled non-stop while rolling about in bed. After a while, it seemed like his babbling was preventing sleep from happening so I stuffed his pacifier into his open mouth. ... And he babbled through the pacifier!!! Gaaar! But he eventually fell asleep.

These days, he can say more than duh duh duh. Last weekend, he was practising rolling his tongue with a-re a-re a-re a-re! And was it Monday when he kept going uh-oh for no apparent reason?

A sample of his babbling taken a few days later:



I can't wait for him to develop proper speech :)

First trip to the library

I must admit that I had harboured high hopes that our ZK would sit at a quiet corner of the library and devour all the books he could lay his hands on.

Well, devour he did, just not in the way I expected!

Last Saturday, we took a late nap and woke at 5.30 pm, too late for baby spa. So we decided to go to Clementi instead. Had dinner at Fish & Co - ZK finished most of a grilled fish fillet.

Then Sito went to the clinic. He's been ill for some two weeks, although I was presenting a more serious bout of cold that day - I don't see the point of seeing a doctor for cold medicine that I can get off the shelf. I'd only see a doctor if I need that MC to rest at home.

Anyway, so ZK and I went to the library, and zoomed straight for the baby area. I sat him down at a quiet corner - see how I tried to orchestrate the materialisation of my high hopes? - and he barely got down when he started grabbing books off the shelf, in blocks of three or four! Hastily put them back and tried to interest him in a picture book.

Nop, we're not at the "devour" part yet.. He was just not interested in the books, not even in eating the pages! He just threw them on the floor. And seeing a bigger boy quietly reading on his own didn't help.

Barely a minute later, he discovered the aisles. And he ran walked like a penguin trying to take off. Only, he kept falling - he doesn't walk as well in shoes.

And then there was some interactive exhibition on one side. He went to the spinning board and touched it while a big brother was playing with it. When he got it for himself and another big brother came to touch it, he pushed his hands off! What anti-social behaviour *.*

After a while, he decided that keyboards were fun, and disturbed yet another older brother who was playing a game. He also had fun climbing up and down the little chair with some help from Mama.



Again, he got bored and noticed some lights by the exhibition. He pulled out the loose bits and started to eat the bulbs!!! Yes, unfortunately, that was what he devoured that day..

My high hopes by then had become humble hopes that he didn't hurt himself or disturb others too much. And as it got late, I decided to pick him up to go. He resisted and ran about a bit more, ending up with a slight knock on his head against the wall as he fell for the nth time. Ah well, he's a tough boy!

Pictures to follow..

This is what I would like him to do:



This was what he really did:

While ZK enjoys himself in IFC...

Mama is very proud again today. I happened to look at a wall in his IFC and found these:





I didn't know he did art and craft in school! There were more, like handprints and sticking shapes on disposable plates, but they were old and taken down.

Things I'm too lazy to do at home *guilty*

There are other instances that make me glad he's in IFC.

Just on Monday, we got in a little late and the twins were already there. He got down, went to Sophia and took the toy she was holding away GENTLY. And then he suddenly flashed this near toothless smile that had his upper lips pulled up and straight and his eyes all squinting! Sophia didn't look amused hoho! But she didn't look pissed either. I saw this through the door window and left laughing :)

And last week, he started handling my leaving better. And by mid week, the teacher barely took him and he turned to me and waved bye bye! I was relieved that he was fine, but I couldn't help feeling dismissed o_O At least, he's always excited and happy to see me at the end of the day..

We sent him to IFC for the past few Saturdays. I was a little guilty two weeks ago when I put him in IFC while I went for a massage... Or perhaps I shouldn't be, cos I decided on the massage after deciding to put him in IFC so that Sito could sleep better; he came back from Japan at almost 4 am on Saturday.

Tried to put him back on his weekend schedule by giving him a snack before his afternoon nap so that he could last until his usual milk time at 4 pm.



We inflated a globe ball that Sito got from his Japan semi-work trip - semi-work cos it was too relaxing!!



And ZK also got a very cute yukata from Papa - very ex though, more than 5000 yen! It's been washed and put aside for ZK to grow into it.



Sito got me a whitening mask and lots of chocolate! Shiroi Koibito and Kit Kat :)

He went to a maid cafe and came back with this which made me feel very unbalanced:



mf: You did the heart thing with a random girl?!
Sito: *shocked*
mf: We've never done that *pout*
Sito: We did!

And he pointed to our minis who are now on our desk *,*



Anyway...

Yes, we had a lot of fun that Saturday.. Even took a video of ZK walking! He's been walking for a while but this is the first video :)



And we went to Star Vista for dinner - it's been a while! We let ZK walk a bit but as we were leading him to the restaurant, he decided to back-lead us to something that caught his interest.. See, looking so intently...



It was the fountain! Ok, when he can walk and run, we'll let him go play at the fountain. There are changing facilities right next to the fountain.



Unfortunately, that Saturday was also the day he started feeling ill. So I said I bought a humidifier on the Tuesday after right.. On Friday, he came home from IFC and spent two seconds at his activity table before going for the humidifier. Yes, we've concluded that he loves gadgets..



He went to IFC again last Saturday, when Sito was quite ill. We didn't do much but I captured a cute look that evening - he's smiling behind his pacifier :)



Somehow, he has recently taken to drag his bolster with him out of the room when he wakes. Gotta keep outside floor very clean too, sighs..

Last Sunday was the second time I brought him to Hans for my breakfast :) But this time, I didn't buy cold stuff from NTUC on the way home so we stopped by the mini playground - mini cos it only has these 小木马-lookalikes.



Brought ZK to sit on a few of them :) But he seemed to think it didn't rock as well!

The Sunday before, we shifted the desk out of the utility room to the living room in preparation for our full-time help. Actually, agent has no suitable ones for us to interview yet but no harm preparing right? And it was quite a good move, really. His bookshelf is now within easy reach!



Can't wait to get him to the library :p

We went out for lunch as Mum went to Malaysia that day. ZK has been eating with his little jerky movement - very cute :)



Or he would bite and hold on to the spoon! Yes, baby, I know - you have some teeth already *.*

Took a walk in the supermarket after lunch. Arguably the fave aisle of both papa and son!!



I decided at Ikea last week that instead of buying more boxes for his toys, I would just use one box and let him play with the content of that one box; all other toys would be kept in bags in the cabinets to wait for their turn with my little one. And I've chosen to include Ding Dang in the box - ZK hadn't played with it for a long time but he seemed to recognise it!



Spent a few days cleaning and drying toys. And yesterday morning, I finally let him loose on the whole box.



It was really tiresome to keep his toys. But well, opportunities to teach housekeeping are plenty!

I'm going back to bed now. After all, that was why I decided to put him in IFC today!

Happy Teachers' Day!

I was still hungry after dinner cos I shared it with ZK - I didn't expect him to eat so much!

He had rice, scrambled eggs and some broccoli - broccoli! - while I also had the sweet and sour pork :)

The scrambled eggs went in first. Passed his picky tongue as I knew it would.

Next was the rice. It was still hot and soft as we had it right after returning from the stall. I was worried cos it was just plain rice. But guess what, he took it very well and gestured for more.

I was having my broccoli when I thought I could let him try it. He didn't want to hold it so I held the stem and put the little buds or whatever you call that into his mouth. He almost wanted to take the whole floret into his mouth! Somehow, he got the idea that he had to bite and so he did. I helped with positioning and pulling. And he ate most of the buds after a few rounds.

Mama is so proud of him :)

Today is Teachers' Day so his IFC is closed and I'm on leave. But he didn't realise it was a holiday and woke at 5 am. Two hours and a half later, he seemed tired so I put him in bed and dozed off myself! But of course he didn't sleep la - when Sito woke and opened our bedroom door, he was shocked to find ZK happily going to him and get no response from wifey! He eventually came over to find me sleeping in ZK's bed *.* I woke then but promptly dozed off again until I heard something in the kitchen and rushed out - ZK was banging on the toilet door while Sito was on the throne!

Gave him some yogurt to tide him over cos he had his breakfast milk very early but I didn't want him to have his cereals too early. Timing was just nice; after cereals, it took a minute for him to doze off after I put him in bed. Bliss!

Didn't nap with him though - had to do some work. When he woke, he took his second dump of the day and fussed until I set him in his umbrella stroller. He knew we were going to go out and became very guai *roll eyes*

We went to Gardens by the Bay! We last went there on 1 Jan 2013 - time passed so quickly! And my membership is coming to an end! It was just about a year ago that we first went with LS and little SX.

He was quite quiet in his stroller. Then we set him loose. But he didn't go wild - see, so guai :)



And he really wanted to push his stroller!



Then he saw a bird and went after it! Question: How did the bird get in?!

Blur pic of mama and son - nicely disguising my lack of makeup but he's as cute dao as ever. There are Chinese knots and flowers in mini test tubes hanging on a plant behind us. I used to have a mini test tube vase stuck to my window in Oxford :)



Came up from the Flower Dome to find ourselves confronted with lion statues! Almost like a 小木马 :)



PS: I didn't get the day wrong - I wrote this last night but dozed off before I got to upload the photos *.* Tired.. My on-off cold seems to have gone on now :(

The pains of parenthood

Today, I was totally stunned to hear that a friend's newborn passed away, just an hour after I heard that she delivered yesterday at 38 weeks plus.

We're not particularly close but I really wanted to call her, reach out to her. But honestly, I didn't know what to say. She probably wanted some space and time with her loved ones too. And nothing anyone says would help, as I unfortunately know. But I wanted to do something. I thought for a long while and whatsapped her instead. Told her about my angels despite the different circumstance and how I coped. I was so glad to see her reply.

I heard the bad news just before I left office. Started tearing on the train and this woman was staring at me. When I got to ZK, I picked him up and cried behind his back.

I remember reading something people were sharing on Facebook, about the thoughts of a mum when her daughter told her she was planning to start a family. I remember thinking it's so true. Parenthood brings about so much joy and also so much worries.

After Angel Baby, I was worried about ZK all the time. In the early weeks, every scan was a relieve. The thought that morning sickness was a good sign helped me live with it. Then, every kick was a reassurance. But every lengthy period of stillness freaked me out. I also worried about Down's but when I was told that ZK had a thick neck, I'd already fallen in love with him. Obviously, he turned out fine.

Then, I got paranoid about things that could go wrong during delivery. Thankfully, excitement took over such paranoia. And that first cry was the most lovely music in the world!

But I realised that was only the beginning. In the early days, I kept waking up to check that he was still breathing in the bassinet beside me. Even now, I would sometimes go into his room just to feel his little chest heave up and down - but only when I'm awake la hoho!

I also worried if he was developing ok. Autism was the next thing to be paranoid about, especially during the time when he wasn't interactive yet. I sometimes still worry about his development but well, that could just be me being competitive when I see other kids do things that he can't do yet! I must remind myself that each child grows at his/her own pace.

Then when he get some serious bugs, I worry about every aspect - Is he still hot? Why is the cough not stopping? Is that him wheezing? Does him have difficulty breathing? Is he breathing? (again) Wa, his mucous is so yellow! Can he sleep well? He's not eating. He's not drinking enough milk/water. He's losing weight. Some of these also plague me when he's healthy, especially whether he's getting enough sleep.

And these are not all! Whenever I see or read bad things that happen to other kids, whatever their age, I get struck with fear. Whenever I see a safety risk, even as far fetched as whether the low-life smoking next to the cardboard may set the neighbourhood on fire, I get all paranoid.

Just yesterday, I was very frustrated that he wasn't sleeping. He wasn't rolling either; he was just sitting there crying, sometimes burying his wet and snotty face into the new bedsheets. Today, I didn't let myself get frustrated. To have him is such a blessing!

Super TMI post

Q: What passes through a tunnel in the human body and emerges (loudly) out of the body?
A: A baby!

Yes, but that's A1; there's also A2: Poop!

I was suffering in the toilet this evening. It was bad as the waste moved through my intestines, with such terrible cramps that I just had to tell Sito:

Pooping is more painful than childbirth!

(I had an epidural.)

Darn you, yummy 炸酱面 at lunch.. I shall decide (again, sighs!) that I will *try* to give up spicy food. It's quite literally a pain in the ass *.*